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Former Texas prisoners may be entitled to back pay from state

Much of the money owed to people who are wrongfully convicted is guaranteed through the Tim Cole Act, a law approved in 2009 that makes exonerated Texans eligible for lump sum payments equal to $80,000 for each year they were wrongfully imprisoned. They also are eligible for monthly payments for the rest of their lives.

Posted: 12:36 p.m. Thursday, December 28, 2017

Texas may owe thousands of dollars in restitution to as many as four people who were wrongfully imprisoned, according to an American-Statesman review of state data and criminal records.

All told, the Texas comptroller’s office, which doles out money to Texans who went to prison for crimes they didn’t commit, has lost track of eight people agency records show are eligible to collect monthly compensation.

“We just didn’t hear from them,” said Kevin Lyons, a spokesman for the comptroller’s office.

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